Wow. How do you even begin to engage in a conversation about gun safety when the other side displays such a total lack of introspection?
“She was not the least bit irresponsible,” her father-in-law, Terry Rutledge said,
You know, except for the part about leaving a loaded gun within reach of her two-year-old.
He complained about people using the incident to attack his daughter-in-law.
Again, wow.
“She was taken much too soon,” he said.
Taken? Taken?!?
I wonder if a gun nut will send the boy a copy of this story in 16 years?
If he thinks this is bad he should imagine what people would say about her if the gun had killed her toddler instead of her.
Meanwhile another white guy with a gun isn’t shot by the police.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....tail=email
Live by the sword…
This woman was an idiot. (Now she’s a dead idiot.) I haven’t been able to determine from news reports whether the gun was a revolver or semi-automatic, it’s only described as a “small caliber handgun,” but I’m guessing it probably was a semi-auto. In order for it to fire, she had to be carrying it in her purse locked-and-cocked with the safety off. Only a dunce would do that.
Let’s go over the many things this irresponsible gun owner did wrong.
1. Taking a gun into a WalMart in the first place. What for? To shoot it out with a robber amidst a crowd of shoppers? Idiot.
2. Carrying it in a purse. If you’ve gotta pack heat, carry it in a holster, on your person, so it’s under your personal control at all times. Don’t leave it in a purse in a basket with a toddler. Idiot.
3. Carrying it locked, cocked, and loose. Inserting a magazine into a semi-auto doesn’t load it. It can’t fire that way. You first have to pull back the slide to feed a round into the chamber. Some people prefer to carry semi-autos this way, because they can’t go off accidentally in this mode. The disadvantage is the time it takes to load the pistol if you need it. For that reason, experienced gunners usually prefer to carry their semi-autos “locked and cocked.” The ONLY safe way to do this is in a holster with a strap that blocks the hammer. And, of course, with the safety ON. Only an idiot carries a locked and cocked semi-auto loose in a purse or shoved into a waistband. Idiot.
4. It’s possible the safety was on, and either the kid switched it off, or far more likely, it got rubbed off — into firing position — from being jostled in the purse. Which is a major reason why you never carry a locked-and-cocked semi-auto anywhere except in a hammer strap-protected holster, where the (a) trigger, (b) hammer, and (c) safety are all protected by holster leather from being accidentally rubbed against. But most likely she forgot to check the safety and make sure it was engaged. Maybe she didn’t even know where it was. Lots of people buy guns and throw them into a drawer or purse without learning how they function of what the various buttons and doodads are for. Idiot.
5. Small caliber handguns are worse than useless. They won’t keep a robber or rapist from shooting you. Even if you shoot him first, that’ll just piss him off, and then he’ll shoot you for sure. This is exactly what happened to one of my law school classmates who got herself killed by trying to shoot an armed burglar with a .22 pistol. If you’ve gotta have a handgun, getting a fucking cannon, which incidentally is much harder for a toddler to wrap his little hand around and accidentally trip the trigger. There’s nothing good about small handguns, they’re just accidents waiting to happen. Idiot.
Far from being a responsible gun owner, this woman was irresponsible in the extreme, and in addition, an idiot who knew nothing about guns. And now she’s a dead idiot, and leaves behind a kid who someday is going to learn that the reason he grew up without a mother is because he killed his mother.
I’m not gonna say whether I own a handgun. I will say that I’ve had a concealed carry permit for over 30 years; and I will say that if somehow I do own a handgun, it’s a fucking cannon, and if I do pack heat for any reason, it’s in a proper holster with a hammer strap and the rabbit packing it is extra-careful with it because of the additional hazard posed by the fact that any theoretical handgun that I might theoretically own is going to have been modified by a gunsmith so that it has ambidextrous safeties, because I shoot equally well either right or left handed, having practiced until I can do so. Dual safeties are more dangerous because they’re easier to rub from “on” to “off.” And I’m a better shot than 97% of cops; I wouldn’t need 20 rounds to take down a shooter, I’ll get him with the first shot, and it’ll be perfectly legal because none of this applies unless someone with malevolent intent seriously fucks with me or my family. Of course, all of this is just theoretical and rhetorical, except for the fact I have the carry permit.
I don’t believe in ignorant dumbasses carrying loaded guns into stores. Especially when they have kids with them. But under any circumstances. For most people, in almost every scenario I can think of, having a gun is a very bad idea. Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, a gun is worse than useless, it’s positively dangerous to your own life and limb and loved ones, as this tragic incident grimly demonstrates.
@4…Grow up, all this left-wing race hustling is reaching truly pathetic levels.
Why does Bugs Bunny bleat like a goat?
I always leave my crack pipe and heroin needles on the kitchen table next to the kids high chair along with the drugs, but I make sure I hide the lighter.
If I had a gun for “protection,” it would be a sawed-off shotgun. Don’t have to aim. Makes a BIG noise.
@11…That explains a lot.
@13 yeah it does. Like you are one fuckin idiot.
@9 No, there’s a real issue there, and if you can’t see that, you’re the one who needs to grow up. Those people protesting in cities across America aren’t imagining things. But you don’t like those protesters, because you like the status quo just fine, don’t you?
@10 Because he’s a parrot who thinks he’s a goat.
@9 sounds like you are really bothered by the truth and reality. Maybe you are the one that needs to grow up.
@15, “Those people protesting in cities across America aren’t imagining things.”
Yes indeed they are.
it’s irresponsible for people generally to have guns; this leads to massive availability of guns, and large scale availability of guns to folks we call idiots, or criminals, or irresponsible. But as a society, we’re the ones at fault here by promoting, allowing, enshrining, encouraging and tolerating and enabling a society in which there are hundreds of millions of guns, putting them within easy reach of the bad guys, making cops have to have hair trigger responses, enabling any thug to get one, letting any teen with anxieties become a mass murderer, and letting folks who are either idiots or who slip up ONE TIME get hurt like this lady did. No nation with ez access to guns this way, is safe. (nations with lots of guns, that are safe, have lots and lots of regulations, qualifications and controls). focusing on her as an individual just lets us off the hook. this stuff only happens very very rarely in canada, britain, japan, etc. you know, canada, a nation that conquered the west, is very multicultural and has a long history with guns? so this lady was irresponsible but we in america who carry guns stand up for so called gun rights are the ones morally and proximately to blame — we’re the thing that can change — you have the same percentage of idiots in america as in britain, and far fewer gun deaths over there because, hello, fewer guns, and yes guns cause gun deaths just like cars cause automobile collisions — they are triggered by negligence and intentional acts, but are essential instruments for those things to happen. so rabbit, I’d say you are responsible too. all gun owners are. it’s all y’all that create the phoney need for guns you perceive and then it’s a cycle of guns being out there, you need more guns, we can’t do anything about guns etc. there is only one way out of this cycle of violence and gun promotion and it’s just what they did in australia a few years back. and if it takes registration and confiscation of your guns, that’s how we ought to do it. now, you will resist this, ergo, you are the ones responsible for there being so many guns at hand for crooks, violent men, negligent women, and crazy teens.
@6
She didn’t bring it into the store for her protection, not really. A gun was her other cell phone, and she texted all the time.
Both Colt and Veronica were avid gun enthusiasts who never left the home unarmed. “They carried one every day of their lives, and they shot extensively,” Rutledge said. “They loved it. Odd as it may sound, we are gun people.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/201.....scientist/
@6
From the Seattle PI article, it says the gun was a 9mm semi-automatic.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/.....986876.php
Quite frankly, the bitch got what she deserved. Good fucking riddance to her.
@22…Ladies and Gentleman, presenting Americas left-wing.
@ 23
Darwin wins again.
@6, Roger Rabbit, I would add to your list an item 2(a): She turned away from the purse to look at something long enough for the kid to unzip and get the gun out and point it. Enough time for ANYONE TO STEAL THE PURSE AND THEREFORE HAVE A GUN.
Also, where can I see a picture of a hammer strap? Can”t find one searching the web. Is it a separate thing or always part of a holster?
“I’m guessing it probably was a semi-auto. In order for it to fire, she had to be carrying it in her purse locked-and-cocked with the safety off. Only a dunce would do that.”
That’s right, loaded, and cocked! I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed that. In order for a toddler to fire it, it must have been cocked, and that goes for how many other similar incidents?
It’s tragic what happened. I’m sure the woman carried the weapon in part for peace of mind; as lots of folks in Idaho do, she now has peace of mind.
Princess Diana didn’t have a seatbelt on when she died. The Greeks have a word for this hubris and all of us except the very young have an infinity for hubris. Maybe this event will prevent some hubris somewhere, but we humans have a great ability to forget.
Could have been somebody elses kid…would THAT have been an acceptable sacrifice to the Gun Fetish Death Cult?
ALL of the people in that store were in danger…but she was not irresponsible?
When does this madness stop?
@27…
Kootenai County Idaho has 140,000 residents and 16,000 of them have concealed carry permits.
Boy…that must be some dangerous place…I guess I’d be scared of all the other gun nuts too…not to mention all the white supremacists.
Boy howdy…the puddyfuckwad ought to NEVERRRR go NEAR a shopping mall there!!!
@19 “But as a society, we’re the ones at fault here”
No, we’re not, much of the responsibility here lies with 5 people on the Supreme Court and the presidents who appointed them.
@20 “Odd as it may sound, we are gun people.”
So are the parents of the 9-year-old girl who blew a gun instructor’s head off with an Uzi. And yes, people like them are odd to say the least.
@22 She didn’t deserve it, but stupidity has consequences.
@23 That comment doesn’t speak for me, I disagree with it and I wouldn’t post something like that, but frankly it’s no worse than a lot of the shit you righties spew every day of your miserable little lives.
@25 This photo shows how a hammer strap works. Here, the gun is a semi-auto, locked and cocked, and presumably has a round in the chamber, so (we assume) this sucker will fire if the safety is flipped off, the trigger is pulled, or the hammer is struck a blow or otherwise released.
The gun’s safety is always the primary safeguard against unintended discharge, but the holster provides a couple of additional safeguards: (1) the trigger is completely covered with holster leather so that a finger can’t accidentally or intentionally get inside the trigger guard and pull the trigger; and (2) the hammer strap prevents the hammer from striking the firing pin in the event the safety is off or defective and the trigger is pulled or the hammer is struck a blow, i.e. if everything else fails.
http://tinyurl.com/nkjyhmw
Also, don’t know if any of you notice this, but police and military are trained to carry keep the trigger finger OUTSIDE the trigger guard, extended straight, until they actually fire. This photo illustrates the RIGHT way to hold a firearm of any type, in any situation.
http://tinyurl.com/q6osy6b
And this moron (I’m sure you recognize her) is doing it the unsafe and WRONG way! (Observe where the trigger finger is.)
http://tinyurl.com/pr3o7mq
30 — nope. the people on the court are responding to us as a society and our broad tolerance, you could even say irrational worshipping, of guns. this includes you. just by telling folks you have a gun you normalize this ultra dangerous activity — we have collectively, most of us, normalized it to the point that we just accept all these deaths and all this violence and destruction of lives when the neighborhood is so violent. in france, they have drugs, they do not have our level of violence. in UK, they have minorities, they do not have our level of violence. in canada, they conquered the west, with guns, but today they do not have our level of violence. the thing that makes USA different is people like you who want to own a gun “responsibly” and here’s my point:
you can’t have 100 million people owning guns responsibly. since this fact alone ensures every criminal, kook, and anger prone person has ez access to guns. you, the responsible gun owners, create the means by which all the “bad guys” and crazies and negligent folks like this lady, get guns, and cause gun violence. this in turn makes cops fear death in every interaction and leads to more violence from them. we are today more violent than in the old west — at least then they had the sense to ban all guns in town. widespread limits on gun ownership a la australia or canada are the way to go. people liuke you? the so called normal people, just retired, don’t have a special need for a gun, but man you love your gun(s), you are the ones blocking us. you are the fulcrum, the thing we got here they don’t got in UK or australia. of course the far right and the nra will block it but we can’t beat them when folks like you NORMALIZE GUNS when in fact we should look at it like akin to owning dynamite, akin to carrying acid in your purse, akin to being armed with a bazooka — it’s just ultra dangerous and the average person just should not have guns, end of story. there always will be negligent fools, crazy teenagers we can’t spot their madness coming, and cheap criminals but in england the average street thug does not have a fucking gun. because there, the mass of citizens gave up any right to a gun. and no it did not lead to tyranny either. not there, not in canada, no in australia, not in japan, etc. ALL the arguments that we should allow 100 million guns or more are crazy phony, but we got these what, 100 million gun owners? who stand in the way of rationally draining the water from the swamp. widespread availability of guns will NEVER be properly regulated and managed to stop our too high levels of violence. removing about 95% of all guns is the precondition for our nation being safer, like france or canada. to the point where if you are in a poverty stricken neighborhood plagued with drugs, you do NOT fear for your life, since there are just damn few guns around. they got junkies in england, but they don’t have the kind of neighborhoods we have here our worst crime prone neighborhoods they don’t have ANY like that in all of UK japan france or austrlia.
tell me why you need a gun? there’s no real reason, is there.
34 — the level of safety devices you need to “safely” carry a gun around pevents it from being useful if a bad guy gets the drop on you. if you have an enemy out to get you all he has to do is come up from behind. so there is no purpose for your gun. it’s like the gun at home, if it’s locked up without ammo, the thief entering will get the drop on you before you can get the gun.
there is no real purpose for the average citizen to have a gun and 99.9% of them never use it for self defense. look at it this way, drug dealers carry, too, this does not stop them from oft being murdered, right?
how’s it going to stop some suburban dad, even if he was in the army 20 years ago?
@36 I needed a gun while working as a judge because of threats against my family.
@37 “there is no real purpose for the average citizen to have a gun and 99.9% of them never use it for self defense”
I believe most people aren’t better off with guns and shouldn’t count on them for self-defense. A large noisy dog is better for home protection in most cases, although it won’t stop professional burglars, who are used to dealing with dogs; but a dog works well for deterring amateur burglars.
@37 “the level of safety devices you need to ‘safely’ carry a gun around pevents it from being useful if a bad guy gets the drop on you”
Takes a good shooter less than 1 second to draw and shoot a properly carried and safetied semi-auto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKrDHR-MWgU
Another Responsible Gun Owner (TM) shot 5 people on a bus tonight because, well, he was mad at somebody on the bus.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/5-.....-shooting/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I think a license should be required for guns to have people, and guns should be required to register their people. There’s nothing wrong with guns; the problem is people.
All I have to say is that guns are doing a very good job of what they were intended to do – and that’s kill things. The intention behind proliferation of people is not intended to be murder or killing of people. Guns kill, people don’t kill.